All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

As she outlined the priorities for her department at an oversight hearing on Capitol Hill this morning, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee, “the first is to guard against terrorism…that is why the department was set up.”

While her statement may seem like an obvious one, it does represent a shift in tone for the secretary who, since being sworn-in as the nation’s third Homeland Security chief, has assiduously avoided the nearly constant terror talk of her two predecessors, Michael Chertoff and Tom Ridge.

In a January interview, Bob Orr pressed the former Arizona governor on whether or not terrorism would in fact remain the top priority at DHS under her tenure.

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A roundtable of health officials stressed the seriousness of the H1N1 influenza strain, but said "encouraging" research and prior planning will hopefully minimize the impact.

"We are starting to see encouraging signs," the acting director of the CDC Dr. Richard Besser told moderator Bob Schieffer on CBS News' Face the Nation.

And, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, the government is hoping to have a vaccine for the new virus strain by the Fall.

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Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said intelligence reports highlighting the potential terrorist threats posed by right wing extremists groups are "not accusations, they're assessments."

The report, which states that right wing extremist groups could use the nation's poor economy and the election of the country's first black president as recruiting tools in an effort to undermine national security, has come under fire from Republicans who say the Obama administration is unfairly singling out conservatives and military veterans.

But Napolitano said the reports are "not intended to infringe on anyone's constitutional rights by any stretch," during an appearance on CBS' The Early Show Thursday.

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At her first appearance on Capitol Hill as the nation's new Homeland Security chief, Secretary Janet Napolitano was chided for not talking "terror" to a congressional committee.

Before the former Arizona Governor began her testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, the panel's ranking Republican, noted to Napolitano that "the word 'terrorism' isn't used" in her preapared remarks. "I think it's important for people like us in positions of leadership to constantly remind people" about the threat of terrorism, the New York Republican said.

Napolitano's prepared testimony, obtained in advance by CBS News, did not include the T-word, but the Secretary inserted it in response to Rep. King's observation. As she described the Department of Homeland Security's mission as protecting the nation from threats "both natural and manmade", Napolitano added, "And terrorism, Mr. King, I believe falls into that category and is central to the category."

Not all of her congressional questioners objected to the apparent shift in focus. "I applaud the new tone of the department," said Rep. Jane Harman, chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment, adding that the role of the department "is to prepare, not scare."

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